Arve Tellefsen

Arve Tellefsen is one of the most highly regarded violinists in Europe and performs with leading orchestras across the globe. It is Tellefsen’s unique warm and resounding tone combined with his passionate intensity that has made him renowned and loved all over the world. His ability to enthrall and communicate with the audience makes him one of the world’s foremost violinists today.

Born in Trondheim, Norway, Tellefsen continued his studies at the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music with Professor Henry Holst, before moving to New York to study with Professor Ivan Galamian. Arve Tellefsen held the position of concert master with the Swedish Radio Orchestra in 1970-73 under Sergiu Celibidache, and also with the Wiener Symphoniker in 1975-77 under Carlo Maria Giulini.

As a soloist Arve Tellefsen has worked with conductors such as Blomstedt, Berglund, Salonen, Rozhdestvensky, Kondrashin, Giulini, Celibidache, Mariss and Arvid Jansons, Svetlanov, Kamu, Sanderling, Zinman and Mehta. His discography includes concertos by Carl Nielsen, Shostakovich, Bach, Beethoven, Bruch and Sibelius, as well as concertos by Scandinavian composers: Tor Aulin, Franz Berwald, Lars-Erik Larsson, Johan Svendsen, Christian Sinding, Fartein Valen, Arne Nordheim and Alfred Janson. In 1997 he gave the world premiere of the Violin Concerto dedicated to him by Arne Nordheim, Norway’s foremost contemporary composer, with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra on Sony Classical.

As a chamber musician, Tellefsen has taken part in festivals all over the world, including the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Bath Festival, Gidon Kremer’s Festival in Lockenhaus, Barbara Hendricks’ Festival in Montreux and the Pablo Casals Festival in Prades. Arve Tellefsen founded the Oslo Chamber Music Festival, which takes place annually and attracts the cream of international artists, including Anne Sofie von Otter, Randi Stene, Solveig Kringlebotn, Elizabeth Nordberg-Schulz, Barbara Hendricks, Liv Ullmann, Jan Garbarek, Leif Ove Andsnes, Truls Mørk, Yuri Bashmet, Mischa Maisky, Gidon Kremer, Angela Hewitt, Hagen Quartet, Hilliard
Ensemble, Jordi Savall, Rolf Lislevand and Maria João Pires.

Arve Tellefsen has received numerous awards and prizes, among them ‘Prinsesse Astrids Musikkpris’ (1956), the Harriet Cohen International Award, London, ‘Young musician of the year’ (1962), the Grieg Prize (1973), The Honorary Prize of The Norwegian Cultural Council for 1996, the Fartein Valen Prize (2004) og and the first Ole Bull Prize in 2004.